McDonald’s recently launched the ‘Quarter Pounder’ in Japan. The burgers were launched using a branding experiment - the renovated restaurants were named ‘Quarter Pounder’ rather than ‘McDonald’s. McDonald’s forecast a 60% increase in November 2008 sales at the two stores in Tokyo, compared to last year because of the exercise.

The Quarter Pounded was launched 23 December and resulted in record sales that day. Clearly McDonald’s were not confident that the day would be a success since 1,000 people were paid to join the queues. However, 15,000 people turned up to buy the burgers on the day.

This may be a success for McDonald’s, but a disaster for the health of Tokyo’s citizens. At the moment, Japan has one of the highest life expectancies in the world (around 82 years), but as the adoption of a Western diet continues, we can expect to see this decrease as the prevalance of Western diseases such as heart disease and cancer increase.

As many countries strive to live the life of those in the West, it is difficult for us to point our fingers and tell them they cannot do as we have done because of the damage to the environment and health that we know will be replicated along with the lifestyle. Let’s lead by example, eat with health, the environment and human rights in mind; stop eating meat.